Lawson, Russell M.Passaconaway’s
Realm:Captain John Evans and
the Exploration of Mount Washington.Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 2002.
vi, 174 p.ISBN 1584651679.$22.95.

Mount Washington is clearly the crown jewel of the White Mountains
at 6,288 feet.Mount Adams,
Mount Jefferson, Mount Monroe, Mount Madison, Mount Lafayette and Mount
Lincoln all top 5,000 feet however, and in all, New Hampshire has 48
mountains of more than 4,000 feet.Although no competition for the 10,000 feet-plus peaks of the
Rocky Mountains, the White Mountains attract thousands of climbers even
today with challenges like Tuckerman’s Ravine.

Russell Lawson weaves a tale of the early exploration of the White
Mountain wilderness from the 1600’s to the early 1800’s.To tell the story, he begins with Passaconaway of the Ponacook
Indian tribe.He and his brethren revered the land and were in awe of the
great mountains.They
regarded the Great Mountain or White Mountain as sacred and contended that
it belonged only to the spirits.They
would not climb it.Mr.
Lawson describes the early frontiersmen in the area, the rangers and the
scouts of the French and Indian War, the farmers, the men of the
Revolutionary War, the adventurers, the preachers and academics, and the
students of Harvard and Dartmouth.

In this intriguing and detailed history, the author describes the
earliest ascents of Mount Washington, or the Great Mountain as they called
it in those days, first by Walter Neale in 1632, accompanied by Henry
Josselyn and Darby Field.John Josselyn, the brother of Henry, a physician from
England, either climbed the mountain in 1638 or in the 1660’s, writing
about it in New-England’s Rarities Discovered in 1672 and An
Account of Two Voyages to New-England in 1674.During Dummer’s War in 1725, a party of rangers and scouts
under the command of a Captain Wales ascended the mountain as described by
Jeremy Belknap.Next we hear of Nicholas Austin who with eight others
ascended the Great Mountain in 1774 and properly called the range the
White Mountains.Austin was a
farmer and loyalist who apparently changed his political sympathy as he
remained in the Lake Winnipesaukee region in 1785.

The mainstream of the story is about John Evans, a scout, guide and
frontiersman, and Jeremy Belknap, regarded as the chief human and natural
historian of the White Mountains.The
Reverend Belknap, a preacher and man of science, organized the defining
expedition to Mount Washington in 1784.Gathering botanical and geological data, the men of this expedition
built trails and defied a changing weather pattern to complete their
expedition.Lawson, the
historian, presents much detail of this expedition including numerous
quotes from Belknap’s History of New-Hampshire as well as other
source documents.Of
particular interest were the attempts and difficulties encountered in
trying to determine the height of the mountain.At that time, there were many who felt that the White Mountain was
not the highest mountain in New England and that some of the peaks in
Maine were higher.

Passaconaway’s Realm is illustrated with prints from the
Dartmouth College Library and the New Hampshire Historical Society.These include a number of scenic views as well as portraits of
Jeremy Belknap, Joseph Whipple and Manasseh Cutler who were primary
participants in the ascent of the mountain in 1784. Also included is a map
sketch of the country near the White Mountains by Jeremy Balkans.
Concluding pages deal with the process through which the Great Mountain or
White Mountain became known as Mount Washington.An appendix giving an eyewitness account of the ascent of 1784 is
included along with an essay on source materials.

This book is heartily recommended for anyone who loves mountain
climbing and its history, for anyone interested in the early frontier
history of New England, and for anyone who has spent time vacationing in
this area.Lawson presents a
great deal of detail that needs to be absorbed but it is worth the trip.